Already severely outgunned? Car Magazine claims the new F80 M3 will have 444 horsepower from its turbo inline-6

Already severely outgunned? Car Magazine claims the new F80 M3 will have 444 horsepower from its turbo inline-6

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Already severely outgunned? Car Magazine claims the new F80 M3 will have 444 horsepower from its turbo inline-6

The only bright side BimmerBoost can see is that the new M3 may be severely underrated just like the F10 M5. Let's assume this is the case and apply what we have all seen with the F10 M5 to the new M3. That would mean 417 wheel horsepower for the new M3 despite its appallingly low crank rating. That would also mean an increase of 67 wheel horsepower over the E92 M3 which is a hell of a lot better than 30 horsepower at the crank.

With the new turbo motors BMW is making a habit of underrating them especially in M trim. The low crank rating likely designed not to insight a horsepower war with Mercedes and Audi which is already going on anyway with Mercedes already raising the stakes in the V8 arena. Regardless, assuming about 420 wheel horsepower (which is a best case scenario with a 444 hp crank rating) BMW is not going to win the raw power battle as they did with the F10 M5 temporarily until Mercedes regains the crown.

If weighs ~3,400 lbs, that's a weight to power ratio of 7.66, which is similar than the M5 and should perform along the lines of the CRT/GTS, maybe a bit less given suspension will be more street-friendly vs the GTS/CRT. What's troubling is that BMW had a press conference at the Detroit Auto show, and when pressed with questions, the BMW guy said something to the effect of "More powerful may not necessarily mean more horsepower" (ie performance improvement will be via weight reduction and more torque). So weight will be critical to the equation. Makes the case for a tuned E9x M3 with bolt-ons not being that far off from the new gen just in terms of straight line performance (and will still have warranty if simple bolt ons), not to mention the sublime experience of the S65 engine.

If weighs ~3,400 lbs, that's a weight to power ratio of 7.66, which is similar than the M5 and should perform along the lines of the CRT/GTS, maybe a bit less given suspension will be more street-friendly vs the GTS/CRT. What's troubling is that BMW had a press conference at the Detroit Auto show, and when pressed with questions, the BMW guy said something to the effect of "More powerful may not necessarily mean more horsepower" (ie performance improvement will be via weight reduction and more torque). So weight will be critical to the equation. Makes the case for a tuned E9x M3 with bolt-ons not being that far off from the new gen just in terms of straight line performance (and will still have warranty if simple bolt ons), not to mention the sublime experience of the S65 engine.

Cool... yeah here's the link in case anyone missed it. Personally think the Car magazine guess is probably closer to reality (BMW will sell more if they can actually show a hp gain, however modest it will be).

How does it work with tuned turbocharged cars....if you increase PSI, won't dealer easily see in stored memory (even if flashed back) and void the warranty? For N/A cars, so long as tune doesn't result in rev limit increase or you go past speed limiter and you have only standard bolt ons (with cats remaining), there are no potential warranty issues.

Originally Posted by BuraQ

I will just sit where I am until I see some big improvement in numers by a tunner with little mods

How does it work with tuned turbocharged cars....if you increase boost PSI, won't dealer easily see in stored memory (even if flashed back) and void the warranty? For N/A cars, so long as tune doesn't result in rev limit increase or you go past speed limiter and you have only standard bolt ons (with cats remaining), there are no potential warranty issues.

Originally Posted by BuraQ

I will just sit where I am until I see some big improvement in numers by a tunner with little mods

Cool... yeah here's the link in case anyone missed it. Personally think the Car magazine guess is probably closer to reality (BMW will sell more if they can actually show a hp gain, however modest it will be).

Was talking to Jake about the new M3 when I got ProTuned, we both agreed that if the new motor is as responsive to tuning & basic bolt-ons like the N54, we'll be golden. BUT it really depends a lot on the specific turbos that are used & how much aftermarket boost we'll be able to add.

It obviously a LOT easier to increase performance vs. losing weight, so I'm not the least bit upset with the strong emphasis on weight reduction